Ilia Malinin heads to St. Paul after Fair Play Award
Ilia Malinin is headed to St. Paul on Sunday, May 10, and the appearance comes with a very different backdrop than the one he faced in February. The 21-year-old American figure skater lost the men's figure skating finals after falling twice in his free skate, then earned the Milano Cortina 2026 Fair Play Award for what he did after the result.
St. Paul on May 10
Malinin is scheduled to skate at Grand Casino Arena as part of the Stifel Stars on Ice exhibition tour. The tour also includes women’s singles gold medalist Alysa Liu and Amber Glenn, putting him back on a high-profile stage only months after a final that shifted from first place to eighth.
He was in position to win before the free skate fell apart. Mikhail Shaidorov took the gold medal, and Malinin met him in the kiss-and-cry booth afterward and said, "You deserve it." That exchange brought the Fair Play Award after the Olympics and turned the post-event story into one about sportsmanship as well as scoring.
Malinin After the Free Skate
Malinin has said the result sat inside a larger Olympic strain. He said, "Some of my friends and family were saying to just approach the Olympics the same way you do any other competition." He also said the Games were something completely different from other events, a rare admission from a skater who entered as the favorite and still left with a finish far from where he started.
The pressure was not only competitive. Malinin said people were using him to generate attention and make him the Olympic gold hopeful, adding, "That was not right." He also said, "They were pushing me to do things that benefit TV," and added, "The Olympics should be about the athletes."
Mikhail Shaidorov and the Award
Malinin said he loves figure skating, which is why he keeps stepping into the spotlight even after the February setback. He said, "It’s because I love the sport of figure skating." That is the thread running into St. Paul: the same skater who absorbed the loss, handled the moment with Shaidorov, and drew the Fair Play Award is now back on tour in front of another arena crowd.
The next stop is not a reset of the Olympics, but it does give fans a chance to see how Malinin carries that February night into an exhibition setting. For a skater whose biggest post-Games headline came from a handshake and a sentence in the kiss-and-cry booth, the St. Paul appearance keeps the focus on the ice, not the aftermath.
